Altria Presents at the Consumer Analyst Group
of New York Conference; Reaffirms 2017 Earnings Guidance

February 22, 2017 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

RICHMOND, Va.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Altria Group, Inc. (Altria) (NYSE:MO) is participating in the Consumer
Analyst Group of New York Conference (CAGNY) in Boca Raton, Fla. today.
Marty Barrington, Altria’s Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and
President, and other members of Altria’s senior management team will
highlight Altria’s companies’ strong brands, strategies to create
long-term value for shareholders and the strengths of its diverse
business model.

Remarks and Presentation

The presentation is being webcast live at altria.com in a listen-only
mode, beginning at approximately 9:15 a.m. Eastern Time. A copy of the
business presentation and remarks, and a replay of the audio webcast of
the remarks, will be available at altria.com or through the Altria
Investor app. The free app is available for download at www.altria.com/irapp
or through the Apple App Store or Google Play.

2017 Full-Year Guidance

Altria reaffirms its 2017 full-year guidance for adjusted diluted
earnings per share (EPS) to be in a range of $3.26 to $3.32,
representing a growth rate of 7.5% to 9.5% from an adjusted diluted EPS
base of $3.03 in 2016, as shown in Schedule 1.

In 2017, Altria expects to record a charge of approximately $0.02 per
share for restructuring charges in connection with the facilities
consolidation announced in October 2016. This charge is excluded from
Altria’s full-year adjusted diluted EPS guidance for 2017.

Altria’s full-year adjusted diluted EPS guidance excludes the impact
of certain income and expense items that management believes are not
part of underlying operations. These items may include, for example,
loss on early extinguishment of debt, restructuring charges, gain on AB
InBev/SABMiller business combination, AB InBev/SABMiller special items,
certain tax items, charges associated with tobacco and health litigation
items, and settlements of, and determinations made in connection with,
certain non-participating manufacturer (NPM) adjustment disputes under
the Master Settlement Agreement (such settlements and determinations are
referred to collectively as NPM Adjustment Items).

Altria’s management cannot estimate on a forward-looking basis the
impact of certain income and expense items, including those items noted
in the preceding paragraph, on its reported diluted EPS because these
items, which could be significant, are difficult to predict and may be
highly variable.As a result, Altria does not provide a
corresponding U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)
measure for, or reconciliation to, its adjusted diluted EPS guidance.

The factors described in the Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements
section of this release represent continuing risks to Altria’s forecast.

The brand portfolios of Altria’s tobacco operating companies include Marlboro®,
Black & Mild®,Copenhagen®,
Skoal®, MarkTen® andGreen Smoke®. Ste. Michelle produces and
markets premium wines sold under various labels, including Chateau
Ste. Michelle®, Columbia Crest®,
14 Hands®and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars™,
and it imports and markets Antinori®, Champagne
Nicolas Feuillatte™, Torres® and
Villa Maria Estate™ products in the United
States. Trademarks and service marks related to Altria referenced in
this release are the property of Altria or its subsidiaries or are used
with permission. More information about Altria is available at
altria.com and on the Altria Investor app.

Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

This press release contains projections of future results and other
forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and
uncertainties and are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor Provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Important factors that may cause actual results and outcomes to differ
materially from those contained in the projections and forward-looking
statements included in today’s remarks are described in Altria’s
publicly filed reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2015 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for
the period ended September 30, 2016.

These factors include the following: significant competition; changes in
adult consumer preferences and demand for Altria’s operating companies’
products; fluctuations in raw material availability, quality and price;
product recalls; reliance on key facilities and suppliers; reliance on
critical information systems, many of which are managed by third-party
service providers; fluctuations in levels of customer inventories; the
effects of global, national and local economic and market conditions;
changes to income tax laws; federal, state and local legislative
activity, including actual and potential federal and state excise tax
increases; increasing marketing and regulatory restrictions; the effects
of price increases related to excise tax increases and concluded tobacco
litigation settlements, consumption rates and consumer preferences
within price segments; health concerns relating to the use of tobacco
products and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke; privately imposed
smoking restrictions; and, from time to time, governmental
investigations.

Furthermore, the results of Altria’s tobacco businesses are dependent
upon their continued ability to promote brand equity successfully; to
anticipate and respond to evolving adult consumer preferences; to
develop, manufacture, market and distribute products that appeal to
adult tobacco consumers (including, where appropriate, through
arrangements with, and investments in, third parties); to improve
productivity; and to protect or enhance margins through cost savings and
price increases.

Altria and its tobacco businesses are also subject to federal, state and
local government regulation, including by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration. Altria and its subsidiaries continue to be subject to
litigation, including risks associated with adverse jury and judicial
determinations, courts reaching conclusions at variance with the
companies’ understanding of applicable law, bonding requirements in the
limited number of jurisdictions that do not limit the dollar amount of
appeal bonds and certain challenges to bond cap statutes.

In addition, the factors related to Altria’s investment in AB InBev
include the following: AB InBev’s inability to achieve the contemplated
synergies and value creation from the AB InBev/SABMiller business
combination (Transaction); that Altria’s equity securities in AB InBev
are subject to restrictions on transfer until October 10, 2021; that
Altria’s reported earnings from and carrying value of its equity
investment in AB InBev may be adversely affected by unfavorable foreign
currency exchange rates and other factors, including the risks
encountered by AB InBev in its business; the risk that the tax treatment
of Altria’s Transaction consideration and the accounting treatment of
its equity investment are not guaranteed; and the risk that the tax
treatment of the dividends Altria receives from AB InBev may not be as
favorable as dividends from SABMiller plc (SABMiller).

Altria cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not
complete and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements
that it may make except as required by applicable law. All subsequent
written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to Altria or
any person acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their
entirety by the cautionary statements referenced above.

Schedule 1

ALTRIA GROUP, INC.

and Subsidiaries

(dollars in millions, except per share data)

(Unaudited)

Reconciliation of Altria’s 2016 Adjusted Results

EarningsbeforeIncomeTaxes

Provisionfor IncomeTaxes

NetEarnings

Net EarningsAttributable toAltria
Group, Inc.

DilutedEPS

For the year ended December 31, 2016

2016 Reported

$

21,852

$

7,608

$

14,244

$

14,239

$

7.28

NPM Adjustment Items

18

7

11

11

0.01

Tobacco and health litigation items

105

34

71

71

0.04

SABMiller special items

(89

)

(32

)

(57

)

(57

)

(0.03

)

Loss on early extinguishment of debt

823

282

541

541

0.28

Asset impairment, exit, implementation and

acquisition-related costs

206

71

135

135

0.07

Patent litigation settlement

21

8

13

13

0.01

Gain on AB InBev/SABMiller business

combination

(13,865

)

(4,864

)

(9,001

)

(9,001

)

(4.61

)

Tax items

—

30

(30

)

(30

)

(0.02

)

2016 Adjusted for Special Items

$

9,071

$

3,144

$

5,927

$

5,922

$

3.03

Altria reports its financial results in accordance with GAAP. Altria’s
management reviews certain financial results, including diluted EPS, on
an adjusted basis, which excludes certain income and expense items,
including those items noted under “2017 Full-Year Guidance” above.
Altria’s management does not view any of these special items to be part
of Altria’s underlying results as they may be highly variable, are
difficult to predict and can distort underlying business trends and
results. Altria’s management believes that adjusted financial measures
provide useful insight into underlying business trends and results and
provide a more meaningful comparison of year-over-year results. Altria’s
management uses adjusted financial measures for planning, forecasting
and evaluating business and financial performance, including allocating
resources and evaluating results relative to employee compensation
targets. These adjusted financial measures are not consistent with GAAP
and may not be calculated the same as similarly titled measures used by
other companies. These adjusted financial measures should thus be
considered as supplemental in nature and not considered in isolation or
as a substitute for the related financial information prepared in
accordance with GAAP.